Paw Prints (1.1)

Chapter 3

I checked my ears to see if they were working.  They were!

But how did I understand that mean boy?  This is all very confusing.

I barked.  The boy’s eyes widened.

“No, I will not give her to a bully like you,” said Susan passionately.

“Fine, I’ll just take her.”

He then grabbed me roughly by my ear.  I whimpered in pain as he tried to drag me away from my beloved girl.

Then, a whirl of black and white fur flashed before my eyes.  The hand abruptly dropped from my ear.

I trotted back to Susan, wagging my tail.  She hugged me.

I turned to see my hero, and to my shock it was Lucky!

His owner was cuffing him, but he was panting happily.

“Why are you happy?” I asked him.

Lucky looked me straight in the eye.  “Because I was able to save you.”

A shiver of delight ran through my fur, and not knowing why, I was suddenly so happy!

“Meet me at the big rowan tree in the park tomorrow!” Lucky called as the boy led him away angrily.

“When?” I barked.

“Morning!”

His voice was a faint whisper now.  Happily walking by Susan, we entered an even BIGGER room!  Delicious smells wafted to my nose.

I followed in confusion as we walked toward a table and sat down.

Why were we not getting in the line of students to the delicious smells?

“Trust me.  I know better than to go in the line.  I brought my own lunch. It may smell great, but it tastes horrible.  I can’t wait till middle school,” Susan whispered to me.

How can the food be disgusting?  Wait, it happened again! I could understand humans!

I yipped and whined in joy.  I could understand them!

But… they can’t understand me.  

Susan looked at me weirdly.  I sat back down.

“Hey!  It’s the purebred!” a voice called.

A golden dog padded up to me.  A golden retriever.

“You should hang out with us, the cool dogs.  Not with that dog. I’m gold,” he said.

I sniffed disdainfully at him.  “I’m not interested in golden dogs.  I like real dogs.  Not ones who are ‘gold.’”

The gold dog seemed to lose a bit of his pride, I noted with satisfaction.

“Hmph,” he said.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Chase,” he said.

Bored at this conversation, I turned around and waited for Susan to drop a piece of her lunch.

“Did you just turn your back?” Chase asked.

“Well, what does it look like?” I replied.

Susan looked at Chase and then at me.  She then gave me a piece of ham, which I ate.

Somewhere over in the room, I could feel Lucky glaring at Chase, who kept sitting there.

“So, fo you accept my offer?” Chase asked.

“No,” I said.  “I don’t want to hang out in a group.”

Chase huffed.  “Fine.”

I was very surprised when he continued to sit there.  He just kept looking at me, ignoring his owner’s call.

“You should go,” I said, cocking my head.

Chase turned around to see his owner mentioning for him.  “Um, yes, I should go.”

I laid down at Susan’s feet as he left.  What a weird dog. Right now, there was only one dog on my mind.

Lucky.